6.  The applicants in application no. 11354/05 are:
The applicant in application no. 32952/06 is:
7. All applicants live in the Chechen Republic (Chechnya), Russia.
8.  The applicants belong to six families. Their seven male relatives were detained in two separate incidents in 2000 in Grozny or the Grozny district and subsequently disappeared. None of the applicants had witnessed the detention of their family members and their account is based on the witnesses' accounts. The first nine applicants have been conducting the search for their relatives together.
9.  The second and third applicants are the parents of the first applicant and of Khasan Batayev, who was born in 1979. The fourth applicant is the mother of Zaur Ibragimov, who was born in 1975. The fifth applicant is his wife. The sixth applicant is the mother of Magomed Temurkayev, who was born in 1974 and is married to the seventh applicant. The eighth applicant is the mother of Rizvan Ismailov, who was born in 1974. The ninth applicant is the mother of Sayd-Ali Musayev, born in 1973, and Kharon Musayev, born in 1976.
10.  On 18 September 2000 Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov, Sayd-Ali Musayev, Kharon Musayev and Khasan Batayev were at Khasan Batayev's home at 44 Vostochnaya Street, Grozny. Two cars, a VAZ-21099 used by Magomed Temurkayev and a VAZ-2106 driven by Zaur Ibragimov, were parked in the courtyard.
11.  At about 4 p.m. two armoured personnel carriers (“APCs”) and a UAZ vehicle with the registration number 480-20-RUS arrived at 44 Vostochnaya Street. A group of men wearing camouflage uniforms and armed with machine guns got out of the vehicles and burst inside. They seized Khasan Batayev, Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev and took them away. The armed men also took the two VAZ cars. The men spoke unaccented Russian.
12.  The applicants have had no news of Khasan Batayev, Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev since 18 September 2000.
13.  The Government in their observations did not dispute most of the facts as presented by the applicants. They stated that on 18 September 2000 “unidentified persons wearing camouflage uniforms” had entered the house at 44 Vostochnaya Street in Grozny and taken away Khasan Batayev, Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev, whose whereabouts remained unknown. The Government denied that the stolen cars had belonged to Magomed Temurkayev and Zaur Ibragimov. They also challenged certain aspects of the applicants' version of the events with reference to the documents from the criminal investigation file (see details below).
14.  The tenth applicant is the wife of Usman Mavluyev, who was born in 1972.
15.  In the autumn of 1999, during the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya, she lived with her husband and their two sons at 81 Zabolotnogo Street in Grozny.
16.  In November 1999, fearing for her sons' safety, the applicant went with them to stay with her mother, who lived in the village of Zakan-Yurt in the Achkhoy-Martan District. Her husband remained in Grozny.
17.  On 7 January 2000 Ms Z.A., a friend and a remote relative of the Mavluyevs who also lived in Grozny, heard from other residents that, owing to the intensification of the military operations, on 8 January 2000 a “humanitarian corridor” would be arranged for civilians so as to let them escape from the fighting in Grozny. In the evening Ms Z.A. and Usman Mavluyev agreed to use that corridor and to leave for Zakan-Yurt.
18.  At approximately 10 a.m. on 8 January 2000 Usman Mavluyev, Ms Z.A., Ms S., Ms R.G. and Ms L.G. walked towards the southern exit from Grozny through the village of Chernorechye. At a certain point they were joined by Mr V. At the checkpoint in Chernorechye they were stopped for a document inspection by servicemen of the Russian interior troops. At that moment Usman Mavluyev and Mr V. were the only men in the group of civilians trying to leave Grozny. They presented their passports to the servicemen. After that the servicemen tied their hands, put bags on their heads and dragged them to an APC. The servicemen did not put any questions to them. Usman Mavluyev did not want to go and obeyed the servicemen reluctantly. Then they hit him with the butt of an assault rifle and forced him and Mr V. into the APC. Usman Mavluyev has never been seen again.
19.  A few minutes after the APCs had left, bombing began. In panic, Ms Z.A., together with other residents, ran back to Grozny. On 12 January 2000 she managed to leave Grozny and arrive in Zakan-Yurt. There she related to the tenth applicant the circumstances of her husband's detention. Ms Z.A.'s written account dated 5 September 2006 was enclosed with the application. In her further submissions the tenth applicant also referred to Ms Z.A. as Ms A.A.
20.  The tenth applicant has had no news of Usman Mavluyev since 8 January 2000.
21.  The Government in their observations did not challenge most of the facts as presented by the applicant. They stated that on 8 January 2000 Usman Mavluyev had been apprehended by “unidentified persons” at the checkpoint in Chernorechye and taken away to an unknown destination. The Government disputed the involvement of State agents in Usman Mavluyev's disappearance.
22.  The accounts in this subsection are mainly based on the information provided by the applicants. It appears that all of them sent numerous letters to the prosecutors and other authorities, describing the circumstances in which their relatives had been detained and asking for assistance and details of the investigation. The first nine applicants submitted a significant number of replies from the authorities forwarding their requests to different prosecution services. They received hardly any substantive information from the official bodies about the investigation into the disappearances. As regards the tenth applicant, she received information on the subsequent course of the investigation in 2008, after her request to study the case file had been granted by the domestic courts (see paragraphs 147-156 below). Below is a summary of the letters kept by the applicants and the replies they received from the authorities, and of other relevant developments.
23.  In their observations the Government submitted some additional important details on the progress of the investigation, which are summarised separately in part C below.
24.  It appears that shortly after the abduction of the six men their relatives started complaining about it and the theft of the two cars to various State officials.
25.  On 2 October 2000 criminal investigation file no. 12199 into Khasan Batayev's kidnapping was opened under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (“aggravated kidnapping”) by the Grozny town prosecutor's office (“the town prosecutor's office”).
26.  On 11 November 2000 the town prosecutor's office instituted an investigation into Magomed Temurkayev's kidnapping under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (“aggravated kidnapping”). The case was assigned number 12256.
27.  On 16 November 2000 the town prosecutor's office launched criminal investigation file no. 12263 into Rizvan Ismailov's kidnapping.
28.  In their observations the Government submitted that on 2 December 2000 the investigation in case no. 12199 had been suspended on account of the failure to identify the perpetrators. The Government submitted no relevant documents.
29.  On 8 January 2001 the town prosecutor's office suspended the proceedings in case no. 12263 for the same reason.
30.  On 9 January 2001 the town prosecutor's office opened criminal investigation file no. 11012 into Zaur Ibragimov's kidnapping.
31.  On 1 February 2001 the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic (“the Chechnya prosecutor's office”) forwarded the sixth applicant's complaint to the town prosecutor's office and commented that Magomed Temurkayev had been taken away by “unidentified military servicemen in masks”.
32.  On 9 February 2001 the Chechnya prosecutor's office forwarded to the town prosecutor's office the seventh applicant's complaint about the disappearance of her son, who had been apprehended by “unidentified military servicemen”.
33.  On 2 April 2001 the town prosecutor's office instituted a criminal investigation into the kidnapping of the ninth applicant's sons, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev, under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (“aggravated kidnapping”). The case was assigned number 11107.
34.  On 26 April 2001 the investigation in criminal case no. 12199 was resumed. On the same day cases nos. 12256, 12263 and 11012 were joined to it.
35.  On 16 July 2002 the Chechnya prosecutor's office informed the applicants, including the ninth applicant, that the investigation in case no. 12199 had been suspended and then resumed and that the case file had been transferred to the town prosecutor's office.
36.  On 19 August 2002 the Chechen Department of the Ministry of the Interior, pursuant to the rules on territorial jurisdiction, forwarded the eighth applicant's complaint about Rizvan Ismailov's apprehension “by military servicemen” to the department of the interior of the Leninskiy District of Grozny.
37.  On 5 November 2002 the applicants' counsel requested the Main Department for the Execution of Sentences to inform him whether Khasan Batayev, Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev had been in detention since September 2000. On 29 November 2002 the Main Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior replied that it had no information concerning the six missing men.
38.  On 25 November 2002 the town prosecutor's office granted victim status to the ninth applicant in case no. 11107 in relation to her sons' kidnapping.
39.  On 19 December 2002 the town prosecutor's office suspended the proceedings in case no. 11107 on account of the failure to identify the perpetrators and ordered the police to pursue more actively the search for Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev.
40.  On 15 October 2003 the prosecutor's office of the Leninskiy District of Grozny (“the district prosecutor's office”) granted victim status in case no. 12199 to the following five applicants: the second, eighth and ninth applicants in relation to their sons' kidnapping; and the fourth and sixth applicants in relation to their sons' kidnapping and the theft of their cars. The decision referred to the registration number of the car which had belonged to Zaur Ibragimov, but only referred to the type of vehicle – VAZ-21099 – used by Magomed Timurkayev. The first, third, fifth and seventh applicants were not granted victim status.
41.  On 24 October 2003 the district prosecutor's office suspended the proceedings in case no. 12199 because the term of the preliminary investigation had expired and ordered the police to pursue more actively the search for the disappeared men. According to the decision, the six men had been apprehended by “unidentified persons” wearing camouflage uniforms and armed with machine guns.
42.  In their observations the Government submitted that on 7 April 2005 case no. 11107 had been joined to case no. 12199.
43.  On 14 December 2005 the district prosecutor's office resumed the investigation in case no. 12199.
44.  On 15 January 2006 the district prosecutor's office stayed the investigation in case no. 12199 on account of the failure to identify the perpetrators and establish their whereabouts.
45.  On 12 November 2007 the district prosecutor's office resumed the investigation in case no. 12199.
46.  It appears that the investigation in criminal case no. 12199 has remained pending thereafter.
47.  On 13 January 2000 the tenth applicant went to Gudermes, since all administrative and law-enforcement agencies were located there during the hostilities in Grozny. She submitted written applications concerning her husband's unlawful detention to the military prosecutor, the department of the interior and the department of the Federal Security Service (“the FSB”). She was promised that necessary measures would be taken.
48.  The tenth applicant has not enclosed copies of her applications. She enclosed a certificate of 6 June 2000 issued by the Achkhoy-Martan district department of the FSB stating that in January 2000 she had applied to that department in connection with her husband's disappearance. The certificate also stated that, according to the check that had been conducted, Usman Mavluyev had been a missing person since 8 January 2000. The Government in their observations disputed the authenticity of this document.
49.  According to the tenth applicant, since January 2000 she went to Gudermes approximately every three days to find out whether there was any news about her husband. Several times she met the Deputy Prosecutor of the Chechen Republic, who each time asked her to submit a written application, which she did. He also took from the applicant her husband's photo and copies of their children's birth certificates.
50.  In the end of March 2000 and in February 2001 the tenth applicant went to prisons in Pyatigorsk and in Voronezh since she had heard that detainees from Chechnya were held there. However, prison officials told the applicant that her husband was not being held there.
51.  Since the tenth applicant submitted numerous applications to State authorities concerning her husband's disappearance and then regularly met with State officials in this connection, she believed that an official investigation was under way. However, when in January 2004 she applied in person to the prosecutor's office of the Zavodskoy District of Grozny – the district where her husband's detention had taken place – she found out that no criminal investigation had been initiated. She then lodged a request for the institution of criminal proceedings.
52.  On 16 April 2004 the Zavodskoy District Prosecutor's Office (“the district prosecutor's office”) instituted criminal investigation no. 31036 into Usman Mavluyev's abduction under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (“aggravated kidnapping”).
53.  On 18 April 2004 the tenth applicant was granted victim status in the criminal proceedings.
54.  The applicant received information on the subsequent course of the investigation in 2008, after her request to study the case file had eventually been granted by the domestic courts (see paragraphs 147-156 below).
55.  On 19 April 2004 Ms A.A., also referred to by the tenth applicant as Ms Z.A., was questioned. She submitted that when she had been trying to leave Grozny with other civilians on 8 January 2000, servicemen at the checkpoint in Chernorechye had apprehended Usman Mavluyev and Mr V.
56.  On 1 May 2004 the district prosecutor's office requested the military commander of the Urus-Martan district to provide information about the military units deployed in Chernorechye in January 2000. Similar requests were sent to other military commanders in the Chechen Republic, the head of the Operational Search Bureau no. 2 (“the ORB-2”) and the head of the Chechnya FSB Department.
57.  On the same date the district prosecutor's office requested the head of the Achkhoy-Martan district department of the interior (ROVD) to identify close relatives of Usman Mavluyev residing in Zakan-Yurt and to check whether he had been a member of an illegal armed group. At the same time the head of the Zavodskoy ROVD was requested to establish which units of the federal forces had been deployed at the checkpoint in Chernorechye, which officers had been on duty at the checkpoint on 8 January 2000, to identify close relatives of Usman Mavluyev and witnesses to his abduction and to summon them to the district prosecutor's office.
58.  On 8 May 2004 the district prosecutor's office sent requests to the heads of remand prisons in the Northern Caucasus for information as to whether Usman Mavluyev was detained in any of their detention facilities.
59.  In May and June 2004 the military commanders of the Zavodskoy and Urus-Martan districts and the Chechnya FSB department replied that their offices had no information about Usman Mavluyev's involvement in an illegal armed group. They also had no information about his abduction by federal servicemen or about the deployment of the federal forces in Chernorechye on 8 January 2000.
60.  On 25 May 2004 Ms R.G. and Ms L.G. were questioned. Their statements corroborated that of Ms A.A.
61.  On 1 June 2004 Ms S. was questioned. Her statement corroborated those of other witnesses.
62.  On 16 June 2004 the district prosecutor's office suspended the investigation on account of the failure to identify the perpetrators.
63.  On 22 June 2004 the head of the ORB-2 replied that officers of the ORB-2 had not detained Usman Mavluyev.
64.  On 10 August 2004 the assistant to the head of the United Group Alignment (“the UGA”) replied that he had no information about Usman Mavluyev's detention and whereabouts and that documents concerning the UGA's activities in 2000 were stored in the archives of the Ministry of Defence.
65.  In September 2004 the applicant went to the FSB headquarters in Moscow. She left a written application addressed to the head of the FSB in which she set out the circumstances of her husband's detention. She received no reply.
66.  On 26 April 2006 the Achkhoy-Martan District Court declared Usman Mavluyev a missing person as from 9 January 2000. It noted that a criminal investigation into his abduction had been pending since April 2004.
67.  On 20 November 2006 the district prosecutor's office resumed the proceedings and ordered certain investigative measures. The decision stated, in particular:
“In the course of the preliminary investigation it has been established that on 8 January 2000 [Mr] Usman Mavluyev, born in 1972, was apprehended at the checkpoint of the federal forces at the exit from the village of Chernorechye and taken to an unknown destination...”
68.  On 30 November 2006 the district prosecutor's office requested the FSB department in the Southern Federal Circuit to conduct a search for Usman Mavluyev. Requests for information as to Usman Mavluyev's whereabouts were also sent to the district military commanders in Grozny and the FSB departments in Grozny and in the Chechen Republic.
69.  On the same date the district prosecutor's office requested the penitentiary service departments in the Southern Federal Circuit to provide information as to whether Usman Mavluyev had ever been admitted to custodial facilities in these regions. The heads of remand prisons in the region were also requested to provide information as to whether Usman Mavluyev had been held in any such facilities at any time after January 2000. The requests specified that he had been detained at the checkpoint of the federal forces.
70.  Also on 30 November 2006 the district prosecutor's office requested the Zavodskoy ROVD to identify witnesses to Usman Mavluyev's abduction and to establish which units of the federal forces had been deployed at the checkpoint in Chernorechye on 8 January 2000. Requests were also sent to all district and town prosecutors' offices to check whether criminal proceedings had been instituted into the discovery of an unidentified body resembling Usman Mavluyev. At the same time the heads of the district departments of the interior in Chechnya were requested to check whether any unidentified bodies resembling Usman Mavluyev had been found within their departments' jurisdiction after 8 January 2000.
71.  On the same date the district prosecutor's office requested the ORB‑2 to take steps to establish the perpetrators of Usman Mavluyev's abduction. The Leninskiy ROVD in Grozny was requested to take measures to establish Usman Mavluyev's whereabouts and to check whether any unidentified bodies that resembled him had been discovered.
72.  On 20 December 2006 the district prosecutor's office again suspended the investigation on account of the failure to identify the perpetrators.
73.  In January and February 2007 the Gudermes and Kurchaloy district law-enforcement authorities replied to the district prosecutor's office that they had no information concerning Usman Mavluyev and that no criminal proceedings had been instituted in connection with the discovery of unidentified bodies resembling him.
74.  On 15 January 2007 the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service department in Kalmykiya replied that registers of custodial facilities in the republic contained no information about Usman Mavluyev's detention after 8 January 2000.
75.  On 24 July 2009 Special Investigation Unit No. 2 (Отдел по расследованию особо важных дел № 2) of the Chechnya Prosecutor's Office (“the SIU-2”) was entrusted with the investigation in case no. 31036. On the same day the SIU-2 reopened the investigation.
76.  On 28 July 2009 the SIU-2 amended the surname of the tenth applicant's husband for investigation purposes and indicated his correct surname to the Chechnya prosecutor's office (his name was spelled “Movluyev” in some of the documents).
77.  On 24 November 2009 the SIU-2 suspended the investigation because the term of the preliminary investigation had expired and ordered the district prosecutor's office to pursue the search for the perpetrators.
(b) Leave to study the investigation file, request for legal aid and the grant of the status of a civil claimant
78.  On 14 September 2006 the tenth applicant applied to the district prosecutor's office, seeking leave to study the investigation file and to make copies of it.
79.  On 26 September 2006 she applied to the same prosecutor's office with a request for legal aid.
80.  On 3 November 2006 the tenth applicant again applied to the district prosecutor's office, this time seeking leave to be granted the status of a civil claimant.
81.  On 30 November 2006 the district prosecutor's office granted the tenth applicant the status of a civil claimant in case no. 31036 but refused her leave to study the case file until the completion of the investigation.
82.  On 1 December 2006 the district prosecutor's office issued a formal decision to grant the tenth applicant the status of a civil claimant.
83.  On 8 December 2006 the applicant requested a copy of the decision of 1 December 2006.
84.  On 14 December 2006 the applicant asked the district prosecutor's office about the outcome of the examination of her request for legal aid.
85.  On 28 December 2006 the district prosecutor's office informed her that the reply had been sent to her on 28 September 2006. It appeared that the request had been refused. 1.  Investigation into the kidnapping of Khasan Batayev, Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev
86.  Despite specific requests by the Court the Government did not disclose most of the contents of the criminal investigation files. Thus, they submitted 50 pages from criminal investigation files nos. 11012, 11107, 12199, 12256 and 12263. The documents submitted included decisions to open, suspend and resume the investigations and to grant victim status, as well as letters to the relatives informing them of the adjournment and reopening of the proceedings. No other documents, such as witness statements or expert reports, were produced by the Government.
87.  Relying on the information obtained from the Prosecutor General's Office, the Government stated that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since the files contained information of a military nature and personal data concerning the witnesses or other participants in the criminal proceedings.
88.  The documents, as well as the Government's submissions with regard to the investigation, can be summarised as follows.
89. The Government did not dispute the information provided by the applicants as regards most of the starting dates of the investigation into the applicants' relatives' abduction by “unidentified men in camouflage uniforms” on 18 September 2000. The Government submitted that the investigation had started with the opening of case no. 12199 in respect of Khasan Batayev on 2 October 2000; of case no. 12256 in respect of Magomed Temurkayev on 11 November 2000; and of case no. 12263 in respect of Rizvan Ismailov on 16 November 2000.
90.  At the same time, the Government stated that the criminal investigation in case no. 11012 in respect of Zaur Ibragimov had been opened on 9 November 2000 and not on 9 January 2001 as the applicants asserted. It also follows from the documents produced by the Government, in particular from the town prosecutor's reply to the fourth applicant dated 27 April 2001, that criminal investigation no. 11012 was instituted on 9 November 2000 in respect of both Rizvan Ismailov and Zaur Ibragimov. The Chechnya prosecutor's reply to the eighth applicant dated 20 November 2001 states that investigation no. 12263 had been launched on 8 November 2000.
91.  The Government further submitted that on 2 April 2001 the town prosecutor's office had opened criminal investigation no. 11107 into the kidnapping of Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev. On 26 April 2001 cases no. 11012, 12256 and 12263 had been joined to case no. 12199. On 7 April 2005 case no. 11107 was joined to case no. 12199.
92.  On 15 October 2003 the second, eighth and ninth applicants were granted victim status in relation to their sons' kidnapping. On the same day the fourth and sixth applicants were granted victim status in relation to their sons' kidnapping and the theft of the cars. The first, third, fifth and seventh applicants were not granted victim status. The Government submitted that after October 2003 only the applicants who had victim status had been duly informed of all decisions taken during the investigation.
93.  The Government stated that after October 2003 the applicants and a number of witnesses were questioned by the investigation. The Government provided a brief outline of their accounts, without appending copies of the transcripts or specifying the dates of the questioning. Their submissions can be summarised as follows.
94.  The second applicant was questioned as a victim. He testified that his son, Khasan Batayev, had not participated in illegal armed groups. He had been involved in oil-extraction activities. On 18 September 2000 Khasan had gone to the Oktyabrskiy District of Grozny, in order to search for oil. The second applicant had not seen him thereafter. On 19 September 2000 an unknown boy had come to the applicant's house and said that on the previous day a group of armed men had seized seven or eight persons, including his son, at 44 Vostochnaya Street in Grozny and had driven them away. Some time later the applicant learnt that a certain Ms Mosha had let the house to young police officers. The applicant did not know his son's friends. He was unaware of why his son had gone to their home.
95.  The eighth applicant gave a similar account of the events.
96.  It appears that the ninth applicant was questioned at least twice, once as a witness and once as a victim. As a witness, she testified that her sons, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev, had left the family residence in September 2000. She had not seen them thereafter. On 19 September 2000 the special police force unit (ОМОN) had informed her that on the previous day her sons had been apprehended by masked men wearing camouflage uniforms at 44 Vostochnaya Street in Grozny. She also found out that a certain Ms Mosha had let the house to the police officers, who, together with her son, had been apprehended and taken away that day.
97.  The sixth applicant's statements corroborated those of the ninth applicant.
98.  Further questioned as a victim, the ninth applicant mentioned that her sons had worked as law-enforcement officers and rented the house at 44 Vostochnaya Street in Grozny, close to their workplace. On 18 September 2000 two or three APCs and a UAZ vehicle had arrived at their place of residence. A group of armed men had got out of the cars and burst into the house. The men had seized her sons and some other persons, put them in one of the APCs and driven them away.
99.  The fourth applicant testified that on 18 September 2000 her son, Zaur Ibragimov, had been at Sayd-Ali Musayev's home at 44 Vostochnaya Street, together with Magomed Temurkayev, Kharon Musayev, Rizvan Ismailov and Khasan Batayev. An APC and three other vehicles (a VAZ, a grey UAZ and a white Zhiguli – all without registration numbers) arrived at the house. A group of masked men wearing military uniforms got out of the cars, entered the house and seized the above-mentioned persons, forcing them out blindfolded with their hands tied.
100.  The investigation also questioned Ms Ma. (also referred to as “Ms Mosha” by the applicants) as a witness. She testified that house no. 44 in Vostochnaya Street belonged to her brother, who had lived abroad. In the summer of 2000 she had let the house to a young man called “Kharon”. He had settled in together with his family. On 18 September 2000 neighbours had told her that some young men had been apprehended at the house by a group of armed persons in two APCs and several UAZ vehicles. The armed persons had then driven them to an unknown destination. A car had also been taken away.
101.  The Government also referred to the testimony of Ms Mu., a neighbour residing at 39 Vostochnaya Street. Ms Mu. stated that in the middle of September 2000 she had seen servicemen arrive and encircle houses nos. 44 and 46 in Vostochnaya Street. They had ordered the persons outside to return to their houses. Some time later she had looked down the street and seen persons being forced out from house no. 44 and into an APC and a UAZ vehicle.
102.  According to the Government, the investigation also questioned another ten relatives and neighbours of the disappeared persons, including the fifth applicant and Rizvan Ismailov's cousin. None of them had witnessed the abduction and they had learnt about the events several days later. Rizvan Ismailov's cousin submitted that in 2000 Rizvan had worked as a security agent for the mayor of Grozny. The Government submitted that the criminal investigation file contained Rizvan Ismailov's record of employment, according to which he had served as a security agent of the Deputy Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal Circuit.
103.  The investigation also questioned some officials. Officer D., who at the time had worked at the OMON, testified that on 18 September 2000 an unknown woman at a checkpoint had told him that she had heard machine-gun firing in Vostochnaya Street. A group of police officers went there. Upon arrival, they had learnt about the six men's disappearance. Zaur Ibragimov and Sayd-Ali Musayev had been trainee police officers at the special police force unit. They had been dismissed during probation for unsatisfactory performance.
104.  The Government submitted that the investigation had taken steps to establish the whereabouts of Mr B., the former head of the FSB in the Chechen Republic, and Mr D., his deputy, in order to question them about the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping.
105.  The Government also stated that on an unspecified date an investigator had inspected the scene of the crime. No relevant record was produced by the Government.
106.  The Government submitted that a number of queries had been sent to various State bodies by those investigating the six men's disappearance. No copies thereof were provided by the Government.
107.  The Government referred to information provided by the “ORB-2”, according to which there was no information about any special operations having taken place in Grozny on 18 September 2000. This document was not included in the case file.
108.  The Government also submitted that the law-enforcement authorities of Chechnya had not arrested or detained Khasan Batayev, Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev on 18 September 2000, and that their whereabouts remained unknown. With reference to documents provided by the Chechnya FSB department and the ORB-2, the Government stated that there was no “discrediting information” about the six men. Copies of these documents were not produced by the Government.
109.  According to the Government, the head of the Road Safety Department in the Chechen Republic failed to establish the provenance of the UAZ vehicle with the registration number “480-20”, since the department archives collected before 2000 had been destroyed during the counter-terrorist operation.
110.  The documents and additional information provided by the Government indicate that between October 2000 and November 2007 the investigation was adjourned on several occasions, and that it has so far failed to identify who was guilty.
111. Further to the Court's request, the Government provided about 300 pages of documents from criminal investigation file no. 31036, including copies of the decisions to open, suspend and resume the investigation and to grant victim status to the tenth applicant; letters informing her of the course of the proceedings; witness statements; and copies of requests for information sent by the investigating authorities to various State bodies. The Government also submitted documents from the court proceedings relating to the decision to grant her access to the case file and legal aid (see paragraphs 147-156 below). These documents and the Government's observations can be summarised as follows.
112.  The Government contested that prior to April 2004 the tenth applicant had submitted any applications concerning her husband's disappearance. They in particular denied that in January 2000 she had lodged written applications with the prosecutor and the department of the interior, or with the FSB departments in the Gudermes and Achkhoy-Martan districts. The Government insisted that no copies of those documents had been produced by the tenth applicant. They referred to information provided by the Ministry of the Interior on 15 April 2004, according to which from 2000 to 2003 no applications in connection with Usman Mavluyev's disappearance had been registered. They also appended a letter from the Achkhoy-Martan district FSB department dated 11 August 2009, which stated that it was unable to establish whether the applicant had lodged such an application in 2000 because the relevant archives had been destroyed following the expiry of their storage limit.
113.  The Government also challenged the authenticity of the certificate issued by the Chechnya FSB department on 6 June 2000, which stated that in January 2000 the tenth applicant had applied to the FSB district department in Achkhoy-Martan in connection with her husband's disappearance. The Government pointed out that the certificate was written on plain paper and did not contain information as to the name and surname of the issuing officer. If the tenth applicant had really submitted such an application, it would have been transferred to the competent authorities for a check.
114.  The Government thus submitted that the tenth applicant had first filed a written request for the institution of criminal proceedings on 16 April 2004. On the same day the Zavodskoy ROVD of Grozny forwarded her application to the Zavodskoy district prosecutor's office. Thereafter the district prosecutor's office instituted criminal investigation no. 31036 into Usman Mavluyev's abduction under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (“aggravated kidnapping”).
115.  On 16 April 2004 the tenth applicant and Ms A.A., also referred to by the applicant as Ms Z.A., submitted written statements as witnesses. The Government provided copies of the transcripts.
116.  The tenth applicant testified that in autumn 1999, during the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya, she had lived with her husband at 81 Zabolotnogo Street in Grozny. On 20 October 1999, when heavy bombing had started, they had moved to her parents to the Achkhoy-Martan district. On 4 January 2000 Usman Mavluyev had gone to Grozny in order to check their dwellings. On 10 January 2000 Ms Z.A. had visited the tenth applicant's family in Zakan-Yurt. She had told the applicant that on 8 January 2000 Usman Mavluyev and herself had left Grozny for Zakan‑Yurt on foot. Servicemen had stopped them at the Chernorechye checkpoint for a document check. Once the check had been completed, they had let Ms Z.A. go but retained the tenth applicant's husband.
117.  Ms A.A. submitted that she had been the Mavluyevs' neighbour in the Voykovo settlement in Grozny before the military operations had started in Chechnya. On 8 January 2000 she had walked through the humanitarian corridor from Grozny together with Usman Mavluyev. At the checkpoint in Chernorechye they had been stopped for a document check by servicemen. Ms A.A. had shown her passport. Usman had been arrested. She and the other women had waited for Usman. Some time later a serviceman had told the women to return to Grozny and threatened to open fire if they did not. In panic, Ms A.A. and the other women had left the place.
118.  On 18 April 2004 the tenth applicant was granted victim status in the criminal proceedings. Questioned as a victim on 18 April 2004 and on 1 December 2006, she provided the same description of the events as in her submissions given on 16 April 2004.
119.  The tenth applicant was further questioned on 28 July 2009. She clarified that Ms A.A. had informed her of her husband's abduction. She submitted that a twenty-year-old man called “Arbi” had been detained together with her husband. Both of them had had bags put on their heads, and, flailed with a rifle butt, had been forced into an APC and taken away. The tenth applicant emphasised that she had started complaining to the authorities about her husband's abduction at the end of January 2000, when she had lodged applications with different authorities located in Gudermes, including the prosecutor's office, the FSB department and the Department of the Interior.
120.  On 19 April 2004 Ms A.A. had been questioned as a witness. She submitted that on 8 January 2000 she had left Grozny together with Usman Mavluyev, Ms R.G., Ms L.G., a woman called “Khadizhat” and a young man. At 9 a.m. they had been stopped by servicemen at the Chernorechye checkpoint for a document inspection. Once the check had been completed, they had been told that a bus from the Ministry of Emergency Situations would soon bring them to Zakan-Yurt. Usman and the young man had been ordered to stay for a computerised identity check. The women had asked the servicemen to let the two men go; they had offered money to them. The women had been waiting for the bus for the next six hours but it had not come. The women had then gone to the Voykovo settlement. On the following day they had returned to the checkpoint and asked the servicemen to release the two men. A serviceman called “Igor” had told them that the men had been released the day before. He was wearing a chevron embroidered “VV MVD RF” (the abbreviation for Internal Troops of the Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation). Ms A.A. recalled that “Igor” had been among the servicemen who had stopped them for a document inspection on 8 January 2000. On 11 January 2000 Ms A.A. had gone to Zakan-Yurt, where she had related the events to the tenth applicant. Ms A.A. also provided a detailed physical description of “Igor” and the tenth applicant's husband, as well as of the clothes they had been wearing that day.
121.  With reference to Ms Z.A.'s written statements of 5 September 2006 appended to the tenth applicant's application to the Court, the Government submitted that it bore the signature of Ms Z.A., and not that of A.A. They also questioned the credibility and veracity of Ms Z.A.'s written statements since they contrasted with the statements given by Ms A.A. as a witness on 16 and 19 April 2004. Ms Z.A. in particular testified that once apprehended, Usman Mavluyev and the young man had had their hands tied by the servicemen, who had then put bags on their heads and dragged them to an APC. As Usman Mavluyev had been reluctant to go, the servicemen had hit him with the butt of an assault rifle and forced the two men into the APC.
122.  On 21 October 2009 Ms A.A. was questioned again. Contrary to her previous submissions, she stated that on 8 January 2000 she had not noticed any details of the servicemen's clothes or any specific names they had used between themselves. Neither had she recalled whether the servicemen had put something on Usman Mavluyev's and the young man's heads or whether the servicemen had used violence against them, including while getting them into the APC. Ms A.A. finally communicated “Khadizhat”'s address to the investigator.
123.  On 15 May and 25 May 2004 respectively the investigation questioned witnesses Ms L.G. and Ms R.G. Their statements corroborated those of Ms A.A. given on 16 and 19 April 2004.
124.  On 1 June 2004 the investigation questioned Ms S., who had been trying to leave Grozny on 8 January 2000 together with Usman Mavluyev, the young man, Ms A.A., Ms L.G. and Ms R.G. She noted that at the Chernorechye checkpoint they had met an elderly woman called “Galina”, who had arrived there before them. At around 3 p.m. four servicemen had asked Usman Mavluyev and the young man to show their passports. The servicemen had promised to release the two men as soon as they checked the computer database. Shortly afterwards the four women had gone home, whereas “Galina” had remained there together with the two men. Ms S. had met “Galina” a week after the events. “Galina” had told her that after the four women had left, the servicemen had driven her, Usman Mavluyev and the young man in the direction of Urus-Martan. “Galina” had submitted that the two men had bags on their heads. She had unsuccessfully pleaded with the servicemen to release them. The servicemen had dropped “Galina” off at the Alkhan-Kala settlement and taken the two men to an unknown destination. Ms S. submitted that she knew where “Galina” lived and could identify her.
125.  On 29 July 2009 witness “Galina” was questioned. She related that on 8 January 2000 she had left Grozny together with Mr Ta. and Mr E. They had arrived at the Chernorechye checkpoint at about 9 a.m. There had been a large number of civilians. By the end of the day, many of them had gone. “Galina” recalled that only Mr Ta., Mr E., two other men and a woman had remained waiting. Between 5 and 7 p. m. she had noticed an APC arrive. She had not seen the number plate. Four masked servicemen wearing camouflage uniforms had got out of the APC. One of them had checked “Galina”'s, Mr Ta.'s, Mr E.'s and the other woman's passports and after ten or fifteen minutes had handed them back. Thereafter another two servicemen had put bags on the heads of the two men and put them into the APC. The servicemen had pointed guns in their direction, without using violence against them. The servicemen had offered “Galina”, Mr Ta., Mr E. and the other woman a lift in the same APC. They had dropped the four of them off on the Rostov-Baku road in the vicinity of the village of Goyty, promising to release the two men after an identity check. Thereafter the servicemen had driven in the direction of the village of Mesker-Yurt.
126.  Mr Ta., questioned on 4 August 2009, confirmed the statements given by the witness “Galina”. He added that Ms U. had also accompanied them from Grozny to the village of Goyty. He did not remember whether the woman whom they had met in Chernorechye had been with them in the APC.
127.  Mr E., questioned on 28 August 2009, corroborated “Galina”'s and Mr Ta.'s statements. He submitted that Ms U., who had accompanied them from Grozny to Goyty, had died some two years before. He also stated that, apart from him, the APS had transported “Galina”, Ms U., Mr Ta. and the two men. No other women had been present.
128.  On 8 June 2004 the investigation had questioned Mr M., Usman Mavluyev's brother. He gave a similar account of the events to that given by the tenth applicant on 16 and 18 April 2004. He added that Usman Mavluyev had not been involved in military action in Chechnya and had no enemies.
129.  On 28 July 2009 Mr M. was questioned again. He gave some new details concerning his brother's disappearance. He submitted in particular that on 8 January 2000 the 15th regiment of the internal troops of the Russian Ministry of the Interior had been on duty at the Chernorechye checkpoint. In the spring of 2001 Mr M. had found out that between April and July 2000 his brother had been detained in cell no. 161 of the remand prison at 56 Zhelyabova Street in Voronezh. His inmate, Mr To., had told Mr M. that Usman Mavluyev had previously been detained in Pyatigorsk, in the Stavropol Region. Mr M. provided the investigator with Mr To.'s contact details and those of the family of the second disappeared person, whom he had referred to as Mr Sh. and not Mr V. as submitted by the tenth applicant. Mr M. lastly specified that the Mavluyevs' family had submitted requests for information to the detention facilities of Pyatigorsk and Voronezh but this had not yielded tangible results.
130.  On 29 May and on 16 September 2009 the investigation questioned Mr Sh.'s sister. She had heard about Mr Sh.'s disappearance from eyewitnesses whose names she did not recall. Mr Sh.'s family had never requested the prosecuting authorities to investigate his disappearance.
131.  In November 2009 the investigation questioned Mr To.'s sister and a local police officer at Mr To.'s former place of residence in the Voronezh Region. They stated that Mr To. had moved to Voronezh some three or five years before. They had had no news of him thereafter.
132.  The Government also submitted three testimonies by the Mavluyevs' neighbours in Grozny, collected in December 2006. Two of them denied having had any information about Usman Mavluyev's abduction. The third neighbour confirmed having heard about his disappearance from residents of the Voykovo settlement.
133.  On 20 and 21 November 2009 the investigator asked Ms A.A., Mr Ta. and Mr E. to identify Mr Sh. on a photograph. Neither of the witnesses identified Mr Sh.
134.  The investigation was unable to establish the whereabouts of other witnesses.
135.  On 20 April 2004 an investigator had inspected the scene of the crime, namely a section of the Rostov-Baku road between the exit from Grozny and the entry to the village of Chernorechye.
136.  In June 2004 Usman Mavluyev was described by the Zakan-Yurt police as a law-abiding person who had not taken part in illegal armed groups and had no “discrediting connections”.
137.  The Government stated that the investigating authorities had sent queries to various State bodies, asking them to provide information concerning Usman Mavluyev's apprehension, detention, any requests for medical assistance or any “discrediting” information about him, as well as information on the deployment of federal forces in Chernorechye on 8 January 2000. In their letters the prosecutor's office stated that “it has been established that on 8 January 2000 Usman Mavluyev was apprehended at the federal checkpoint in Chernorechye and then taken away”. The Government produced copies of these requests and the replies to them, which can be summarised as follows.
138.  In 2004 and in 2007 the military commanders of the Zavodskoy and Staropromyslovskiy districts of Grozny and of the Urus-Martan district stated that they had neither any “discrediting” information about Usman Mavluyev, including his alleged involvement in illegal armed groups, nor any information on the deployment of federal forces in Chernorechye in January 2000. Similar replies were received from the Special Unit on Counter-terrorist Operations in the Northern Caucasus.
139.  In June and July 2004, January 2007 and August 2009 the Chechnya FSB department stated that that it had no information about Usman Mavluyev's whereabouts and his alleged involvement in illegal armed groups. The office also submitted that no special operation had been carried out in Chernorechye on 8 January 2000 and that it had been unable to establish which federal units had been deployed there. In September, October and November 2009 the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Defence, the FSB Headquarters and the Federal Penitentiary Service replied that a search of their archives had revealed no information about the deployment of military units in Chernorechye in January 2000, any special operation conducted by “power structures” (силовые структуры) in the Zavodskoy District of Grozny or any servicemen who could have participated in Usman Mavluyev's abduction.
140.  The investigating authorities were unable to establish the whereabouts of Usman Mavluyev. In June and July 2004, January 2007 and August 2009 the Chechnya FSB department had informed the investigators that it had no information relevant to the case. FSB departments in the Southern Federal Circuit produced similar replies. The local bodies of the Ministry of the Interior and the prosecutor's offices had never detained Usman Mavluyev on criminal or administrative charges and had not carried out any criminal investigation in respect of him. A number of operational-search measures had been taken to establish his whereabouts. Thus, in January 2007 house-to-house enquiries were conducted in Voykovo and Chernorechye, and several persons were summoned for questioning in connection with Usman Mavluyev's disappearance. In September 2009 internal databases were checked for information concerning his prospects of leaving the Chechen Republic and the Russian Federation by any means of transport. The prosecutor's offices had not instituted any criminal proceedings in connection with the discovery of any unidentified bodies resembling Usman Mavluyev. Finally, in May and June 2004 as well as in January 2007 the remand centres in the Southern Federal Circuit and local departments of the Federal Penitentiary Service informed the investigation that Usman Mavluyev had never been detained there. In May 2004 and in January 2007 several hospitals in the Southern Federal Circuit submitted that he had never been admitted for treatment.
141.  The Government further submitted that the tenth applicant had been duly informed of the decisions taken during the investigation.
142.  According to the documents submitted by the Government, between April 2004 and November 2009 the investigation was suspended on three occasions and reopened twice upon the orders of the supervising prosecutors on account of the “incomplete nature of the investigative measures”. As appears from the SIU-2 investigation plan dated 28 July 2009, the investigators considered three possible versions of Usman Mavluyev's abduction. According to the first version, the crime had been committed by servicemen deployed in the Chernorechye settlement. According to the second version, it had been committed by members of special units deployed there. Thirdly, the crime could have been committed by members of an illegal armed group.
143.  The investigation in case no. 31036, last adjourned on 24 November 2009, has so far failed to identify who was guilty.
144.  On an unspecified date the first nine applicants filed a claim against the Russian Ministry of Finance, seeking compensation for the non-pecuniary damage caused by their relatives' abduction by Russian servicemen. The claim contained no mention of the fourth and sixth applicants' property claims.
145.  On 30 March 2004 the Basmannyy District Court of Moscow dismissed the claims on the ground that “the evidence in the case file [had] not proved that there [had been] a causal link between [the applicants'] loss of their sons and any unlawful acts of the State agencies of Russia”.
146.  On 8 December 2004 the Moscow City Court upheld the first-instance judgment, reproducing its reasoning verbatim.
147.  On 8 February 2007 the tenth applicant appealed to the Zavodskoy District Court of Grozny against the refusals of her requests for legal aid and access to the case file (see paragraphs 78- 85 above).
148.  On 5 March 2007 the Zavodskoy District Court dismissed the complaint. According to the applicant, she had not been notified of the hearing and, therefore, was not present in the courtroom. Furthermore, the court's decision was not sent to her either.
149.  Since the applicant was not aware of the hearing of 5 March 2007, on 14 June 2007 she complained to the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic about the failure to examine her complaint of 8 February 2007.
150.  On 1 October 2007 the applicant was provided with a copy of the Zavodskoy District Court's decision of 5 March 2007.
151.  On 2 October 2007 the applicant appealed against the decision of 5 March 2007 and requested that the time-limits for appeal be restored.
152.  On 6 February 2008 the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic quashed the decision of 5 March 2007 on the ground that the applicant had not been summoned to the hearing.
153. On 21 February 2008 the Zavodskoy District Court re-examined the complaint. The applicant was not present at the hearing, but she was represented by her counsel. The court again dismissed the complaint. The applicant appealed.
154.  On 26 March 2008 the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic quashed the decision of 21 February 2008 and remitted the complaint for a fresh examination. It found that the applicant had the right to study the case file, whereas her request for legal aid was unsubstantiated.
155.  On 8 April 2008 the Zavodskoy District Court upheld the applicant's complaint in the part relating to the refusal to grant her access to the case file, but dismissed it in the part relating to the refusal to grant her legal aid.
156.  On 16 September 2008 the applicant's counsel studied the investigation file and made copies of the material in the case file, which have been provided to the Court.